Vietnam’s HCMC has confirmed two more Covid-19 community transmissions, a nephew and a student of “Patient 1347,”, an English teacher – Vietnam’s first community transmission in 88 days, have tested positive for the new coronavirus.
Local health authorities had tracked down all people that have come into close contact with the teacher who’d contracted the virus from his friend, a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant confirmed last Saturday as “Patient 1342.”
According to local media, the flight attendant had returned to Vietnam on November 14 and was quarantined for four days at a facility managed by the airline in HCMC. After two tests showed he was negative for the coronavirus, he was asked to remain quarantined at his home in Tan Binh District. At home, he came into contact with his mother and two friends, including the English teacher who came to stay with him.
Health officials and Vietnam Airlines representatives have blamed the flight attendant for violating home quarantine rules, which require people to avoid close contact, stay in an isolated room or keep a distance of at least two meters from other people.
Also read: Vietnam confirms first case of Covid-19 community transmission after nearly 3 months
Following contact tracing, four teachers working at the Vo Van Tan and Nguyen Hue primary schools in HCMC’s District 6 have been confirmed F1 (first generation infection) suspects, forcing 2,000 students of the two schools to stay home starting Monday, VNExpress reported.
Forty-eight students and four teachers of one class at the Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School in District 3 have also been asked to stay home after one of the students attended one of “Patient 1347″’s classes.
The teacher had ended a streak of 88 days with no community transmissions of the novel coronavirus in Vietnam and 120 days in HCMC.
Vietnam’s borders remain closed in an attempt to keep out the virus. Only limited international flights are operating to repatriate Vietnamese nationals and transport foreign diplomats and experts.
The country has reported 1,349 coronavirus cases, including 35 deaths. Nearly half of the confirmed cases were imported, according to the Health Ministry.